Category Archives: Donald Trump
Sessions Renews Federal Asset Forfeiture Program
President Trump gave an interview to his favorite newspaper, the NYT. He allowed that he wouldn’t have appointed Jeff Sessions Attorney General had he known Sessions would recuse himself from the Russian allegations.
Meanwhile A.G. Sessions has been busying himself by renewing the federal asset forfeiture program.
Cover Your Asset Forfeiture Program
A little pithier mention of the property grab plan would have helped this cartoon. But I still like it.
Trump Putin Collusion
President Trump met with Russian President Putin for over two hours at the G-20 Summit in Hamburg. Secretary of State Tillerson says they had a “robust exchange“, and that Trump pushed Putin about interference in our election.
Collusion
Maybe. Who knows what really goes on behind closed doors?
But I think they pounded shots of vodka and colluded about collusion.
Trump Body Slams CNN Logo
No doubt you’ve seen the clip where President Trump body slams a CNN logo. Naturally, Trump retweeted it. The NYT has a good video back story to the tweet here.
The tweet was beneath the dignity of the presidency. But what else is new?
Media Condemns Trump Body Slam
I thought the clip was amusing. But others saw it as an incitement to violence against members of the media. Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press issued a statement reflecting that view.
As it happens, I’m a member of the steering committee for RCFP. It’s an organization with a proud history defending unpopular speech. This is a case where we should have defended unpopular satire, not condemn it.
Here’s the RCFP statement:
On Sunday, President Donald Trump made a public statement on Twitter that glorified physical violence against members of the press.
Bruce Brown, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, made the following statement:
“We condemn the president’s threat of physical violence against journalists. This tweet is beneath the office of the presidency. Sadly, it is not beneath this president.
“No one should be threatened with physical harm for doing their jobs. Journalists are your neighbors, they’re your friends. Journalists perform a critical function in our society, one the Founding Fathers felt was so necessary that they enshrined it first in the Bill of Rights.
“They wrote that ‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.’
“Freedom of the press is a cornerstone of our democracy. The press are the people’s window into the halls of power, and most importantly, they are the people’s check on that power. When the president attacks the press, he attacks the people.”
Morning Trump Tweets Morning Joe
fiance’s 
Trump tweeted that Mika Brzezinski bled badly from a facelift. Mika mocked Trump’s small hands. And said it was only a chin tuck.
Morning Joe
Morning Joe spent the better part of his show defending the honor of his feminist fiance. Mika said Trump picks on women. Joe’s coat holder, Donnie Duetche, offered to go mano a mano with the president in the schoolyard. Like in the old days.
In the old days Trump’s hero, Andrew Jackson, took it outside with his enemies. He fought duels, and killed people.
Democrats say Trump’s already working on that.
Fake News Real News
Fake news sometimes leads to real news.
Victor Davis Hanson recommends that anyone who makes a “a direct threat or clear allusion” to killing the president be put on the terrorist No Fly List.
Slow Freighter to London
If revving up a crowd in Washington by yelling out a personal wish to blow up the White House and its occupants, or holding up a facsimile of the decapitated head of the president to galvanize a video audience does not constitute enough suspicion to take a breather from flying, then nothing much else does. If Madonna had to take a slow freighter back to London, then she might curb her macabre enthusiasm at her next rally.
Fake News Editorial
Congressman Steve Scalise was shot by a guy named James Hodgkinson. He was a wingnut of the left variety. A hit list of Republicans was found in his pocket after he was shot dead.
A New York Times editorial tried to make moral equivalence of this by pinning the Gabby Giffords shooting on Sarah Palin. Congresswomen Giffords was shot by a madman named Jared Loughner six years ago. He had no political motive – just crazy. But the Times Editorial perpetuated the myth. Kind of like Hands up, Don’t Shoot.
The Times corrected the editorial the next day.
